In an interdisciplinary MIT study titled “The Future of Solar Energy,” leaders in technology, policy and economics evaluated multiple options for stimulating the United States solar industry. The authors asserted the current regime of subsidies at the federal, state and local levels is inefficient and has resulted in broad market failure.

Academics, entrepreneurs and CEOs convened at the MIT Energy Conference held on Feb. 27-28 in Cambridge, Mass.. In the opening keynote, Robert Armstrong, director of MIT Energy Initiative, laid out the challenge: “How do you double energy production by mid-century and lower the carbon content?”

Retail investment in clean energy is starting to flourish. Historically, investments in clean energy were only available to institutional investors. Recently, access has become available to retail investors through new investment vehicles such as solar bonds. On Nov. 18, Clean Edge presented a webinar exploring this topic. The event, “Clean Energy Retail Investing: The Rise of Bonds, REITs, Yield Cos, and other Investment Vehicles,” was co-hosted by SolarCity.

How can alternative financing solutions help expand clean energy through capital markets? Industry experts convened at this year’s Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) East conference in Miami on Sept. 20-23 to discuss these possibilities. Yieldcos, crowdfunding or peer-to-peer (p2p) markets, and property-assessed clean energy (PACE) financing could supplement the role of securitization and may deliver the capital the renewable energy industry demands.

With the cost of utility-scale solar power approaching grid parity in many parts of the United States, a key barrier to growth is cheap, easy access to capital. Yieldcos are poised to play a significant role in this growth over the coming years.